An interim management team that will take over the running of the Mangaung Metro Municipality has been announced.
The team, which was announced by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, will be led by Tebogo Motlashuping as the acting city manager.
Motlashuping has been sent from the national COGTA office.
“The acting city manager will start now. He will be receiving reports so he can start work immediately,” Dlamini-Zuma told journalists soon after addressing the Mangaung council on the new development.
There are seven key positions in the interim management team but only four have been filled.
The other members of the team are: acting head of department for corporate services, Ntateko Mpangane, from the national COGTA office; acting head of department for engineering services, George Joma, a chief engineer at the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent; and acting chief engineer Tseliso Ntili from the national Department of Water and Sanitation.
The other positions yet to be filled are the acting head for human settlements, acting head for waste and fleet service and acting chief financial officer.
The team has been given an initial period of six months to turn around the municipality which has been dogged by endless power struggles which have seen mayor Mxolisi Siyonzana taking the speaker, council and former acting city manager Mzingisi Nkungwana to court.
Dlamini-Zuma urged council and officials to support the interim management team as it has come to fix problems within the municipality.
“The success of the intervention depends on the absolute cooperation by all in the municipality,” she said.
The intervention by the national government is meant to support the metro to improve its finances and capacity to deliver on its mandate as well as obligations, as well as to promote sound governance and a better life for residents and also create suitable conditions for business to thrive.
Mangaung has been experiencing significant financial and service delivery failures for a prolonged period.
According to cabinet, the city had failed for more than two years to implement a financial recovery plan after it was placed under provincial administration. – Staff Reporter